Blog #11: Government Grade Software

Authors: Anvith Potluri, Kevin Li, Kevin Nguyen, & Varad Thorat

The existence of programs like Stuxnet, has a significant impact on intergovernmental relationships as it is a clear breach of privacy and considered as an attack on the country. If Iran were to link Stuxnet to the U.S. government then they would further distrust the United States leading to more tension. Existence of programs like stuxnet will make countries such as Iran much less willing to cooperate because they will view the program as a cyber attack. Using malicious software on another country’s software is a serious breach on the country’s software which will make the country unwilling to cooperate in the future as well as more hostile to the countries involved in the creation of the software. 

The existence of programs like the Prism program pose a significant breach of privacy of the citizens. The citizens of the country start to distrust their government and would also start to feel less secure. Distrust between the citizens and the government leads to problems across the board and citizens will be likely to protest a significant breach in their privacy. A program like the prism program will strain the relationship between citizens and the government because it also indicates a lack of trust from the government in their citizens. 

The use of technology like the two aforementioned programs leads to significant problems no matter the use. I personally believe that there is not a way to use such technology responsibly unless it is being used against terrorist groups or during war against other countries. Using a consequentialist framework the programs are ethical in that scenario because they are being used to take down an objectively malicious organization. The technology that is present and in use must be taken out of use in order to protect the rights of the citizens and to prevent a cyber-war from occurring.

Sources:

Ball, James “NSA Prism Program Taps in to User Data of Apple, Google and Others.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 7 June 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jun/06/us-tech-giants-nsa-data.

Zetter, Kim. “An Unprecedented Look at Stuxnet, the World’s First Digital Weapon.” Wired, Conde Nast, 3 June 2017, http://www.wired.com/2014/11/countdown-to-zero-day-stuxnet/.